In a well-known hotel in Lahore, an elderly man was sitting alone, leisurely sipping black coffee. When my eyes fell on him, I felt that in this cold weather, I, too, should have this beverage. The very next moment, I placed an order for black coffee as well. The waiter served it with sugar separately.

The first sip of the coffee without sugar tasted extremely bitter. Even after adding sugar, the bitterness persisted. The elderly man sitting across from me was watching this scene. He smiled faintly and addressed me:

“Black coffee without sugar is drunk only after the age of sixty. I suppose you are around fifty; that’s why the bitterness isn’t going away even after adding sugar.”

His remark seemed reasonable. Since he had underestimated my age, I corrected him and said:

“You’re right, but I am fifty-five years old.”

Hearing this, he smiled again and said:

“Enjoy life for another five years. After that, neither will your will prevail nor will anyone care. Then you and I will be sitting in this very hotel, enjoying black coffee-if I am still alive. Because after seventy, every moment leads toward death, one should enjoy whatever time one gets.”

His candid conversation drew me in. He began narrating the story of his life. He said that he had spent his entire life........

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